IT'S an image that will disturb most parents. Three-year-old Savanna Jackson has been turned into a human Barbie doll complete with blonde hair, heavy make-up...and a fake tan.

Showing off her bare midriff, she strikes a catwalk pose and beams for the camera. Her spray-on bronze tan is part of a £3,000-a-month beauty regime.

Savanna is already a veteran of the disturbing world of US child beauty pageants, having won her first contest when she was just 10 months.

Now she crisscrosses the country to parade in front of judges, with her mother Lauren Jackson happily paying for make-up artists to apply Savanna’s eyeliner, mascara and lipstick, and a modelling coach to ensure she sashays on the catwalk to full effect.

Every month Savanna has a professional spray tan, with a roller used to even out the blotchy bits.

“My favourite routine is swimwear,” the child reveals, though she also poses in beaded ballgowns. “I love winning the biggest crowns.”

Her mother, 26, from Michigan, said: “I’d seen another contestant with a tan and, not wanting the other girls to have an unfair advantage, I got Savanna one too.

I’d seen another contestant with a tan and, not wanting the other girls to have an unfair advantage, I got Savanna one too

Mother Lauren Jackson

“I was worried it might harm her young skin, so I consulted my doctor who reassured me it was 100 per cent safe.”

Pale, brunette Lauren added: “To me the pageants are about having fun and giving my girl the best possible opportunity in life. When I see her on that stage, her confidence blossoming, it’s worth every penny. I’m so proud of my tanned toddler.

“I’d never even consider surgery or botox – she already wears more make-up than I do. But Savanna loves the limelight. She’s a natural. I know it sounds silly, but I believe she was born to be on stage.”

Claude Knights, director of UK children’s charity Kidscape, said: “This has to be one of the most extreme and disturbing examples I have seen.

“It’s sending out messages which this little girl doesn’t understand while being seen by people who see children as sexual objects.”

Nine in 10 British parents are worried about sexually explicit advertising aimed at children, a Chartered Institute of Marketing survey revealed yesterday.